There are conventional techniques for attaching metadata corresponding to an image characteristic to an image. In relation to an image, metadata is additional data added to the image and is data describing information related to the image. For example, there is a technique for managing video pictures by attaching metadata to a plurality of images making up the video pictures. A metadata editing device described in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2004-348553 detects a change in a scene in a video picture. When comments are inserted in lead images of various scenes by a user, the metadata editing device administers by associating the lead images and the input comments. The comments correspond to metadata.
There is also a technique for identifying an object shown in an image. For example, a face identifying device discussed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2010-72708 calculates a feature value associated with the face of a specific person from a plurality of images of the specific person. The face identifying device stores the name of the specific person and the calculated feature value. Then, the face identifying device identifies persons shown in an image based on the feature value extracted from that image received as an object for face identification processing and from the previously calculated feature value.
Furthermore, there is technique for searching a plurality of images for images similar to an image specified by a user. For example, the similar image searching device discussed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. H08-249467 defines a certain frame image in a video as a reference image and compares point by point another frame image and the reference image. Then, as a result of the comparison, the similar image searching device detects an image with a high correlation to an image belonging to the same cluster as the reference image.